Israel’s gay baby boom

The next revolution in same-sex family life.

There is a true revolution in same-sex parenthood underway in Israel. A series of
ground-breaking legal achievements, led by New Family and other actors over a
decade, have practically equated the parenting rights of same-sex couples to
heterosexual couples, triggering a dramatic transformation of the legal and
social reality in Israel.

Since the cancellation of the clause forbidding
homosexual relations in Israel’s Penal Code in 1988, the courts and the
attorney-general have liberally interpreted the law to equate the rights of
same-sex spouses to those of heterosexuals.

The courts tend not to
discriminate against gay couples in cases they hear, though this is strictly
legal interpretation and no legal protections are enshrined in legislation.
Legal precedents for the rights of same-sex couples in finance, employment,
inheritance and military service have been stepping stones toward family
equality in Israel.

Two ground-breaking legal precedents in adoption for
same-sex couples paved the way for the revolution in same-sex parenting. In
2000, the High Court of Justice accepted the petition of Ruti and Nicole
Berner-Kadish, and ordered the Interior Ministry to register both women as
parents of the biological son of one of the partners, who had been legally
adopted by the other partner in the US.

In 2005, the High Court of
Justice granted another lesbian couple a mutual adoption order to make both
women the legal parents of the other’s biological children. Those verdicts broke
the proverbial legal dam, and since then, authorities have been inundated with
requests by same-sex spouses to adopt children. New Family is representing many
of those families.

The obsolete Adoption Law, which stated there is “no
adoption other than by a man and his wife together,” underwent a radical
reinterpretation when then-attorney-general Meni Mazuz approved then-welfare
minister Isaac Herzog’s plan to allow same-sex couples to adopt a child not
biologically related to either partner. This was a significant development,
since prior to that decision, same-sex adoptions had only been allowed in cases
in which one spouse requested to adopt their spouse’s child, or in registering
two same-sex parents for children legally adopted abroad.

With that, the
state finally recognized the legitimacy of same-sex parenting.

Threatened
by these cracks in the legal barriers to same-sex family equality, Eli Yishai,
the Interior Minister, cried out to the heavens. He declared Herzog’s plan to
allow same-sex adoption “an insane idea meant to weaken the backbone of the
Jewish people.”

Gay parenthood is not an Israeli invention. Same-sex
couples around the world have been raising children for a generation. Countries
like the US, Canada, Sweden and Holland have enshrined in law in some degree of
legal equality for same-sex parents. But Israel is arguably a pioneer in family
equality. What makes Israel, a country embroiled in bitter nationalist and
religious conflicts, so conducive to gay parenthood? The answer lies in Judaism.
Judaism’s diverse and sometimes conflicting interpretations religiously and
culturally ground Israel’s same-sex family legal revolution.

The same
religion that motivates some to hate homosexuality can also provide the
religious tradition and moral justification for same-sex family life and
parenthood.

THE FAILURE of religious fundamentalists is their choice to
embrace the most intolerant elements of Jewish law while ignoring Judaism’s rich
tradition of social justice and inclusion.

Religious opponents of
same-sex parenthood should refer back to the Jewish sources, to the Bible’s
repeated commandments to act justly and to live according to principles of
equality.

Same-sex family equality is not “anti-Jewish running amok,
uprooting the Jewish family,” as the Interior Minister once claimed, but
recognition of the fact that the Jewish (and global) family has changed. Thank
God.

The value of marriage and children are deeply rooted in Jewish
tradition and a revered religious principle. I challenge those who oppose
homosexuality on religious grounds to recognize that many committed homosexual
and lesbian couples want to uphold the religious concept of matrimony and only
seek recognition for their union by their state and their faith. I urge them to
see same-sex parenthood not only a human right but also a fulfillment of the
religious commandment, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

The right to have a
recognized marriage or common-law union and to raise children should be seen as
an inalienable human right that all people deserve and a civil right protected
for people of all genders, faiths, nationalities or sexual
orientations.

Not only do the rights of same-sex couples in Israel hang
in the balance of the scales of justice, but the very character of the nation
which strives to be democratic and enlightened.

The next step needed is
an inclusive Basic Law on the family that enshrines in law the rights of all
Israeli families.

Only an egalitarian and inclusive Basic Law will ensure
that the needs of all Israeli families will prevail over the coalition
agreements that oil our parliamentary democracy.

When the children of the
revolution grow up, and become parents themselves, this will all be history.
Democracies will no longer be able to reconcile the principles of equality under
the law with blatant discrimination against same-sex couples in the most
essential sphere of life, and the legitimate rights of gay couples will be
enshrined in law.

Same-sex equality is an inevitable political evolution.
Like slavery and segregation which were abolished by democracies, discrimination
against same-sex couples will eventually be relegated to the dustbin of
history.

The writer is the founder and executive director of New Family
Organization.